She laid her bike down in Miami, Oklahoma. The shifter shaft moves in and out by one inch and is not connected to any internals. Can shift down. If I remove the (bent) foot peg, I can rotate the shifter 175 degrees and shift up.

There is a dealer in Tulsa. I don't know if there are any others in that areaThe mechanic will have to pull the right hand cover. Hopefully the damage will be limited to the arm that drives the shaft that that goes into the gearbox. It may have come loose so that it will spin on the shifter shaft accounting for the fact that if you turn the shifter around it will catch again. Or, most probably, it may have just popped out of the fork. No way to tell without pulling the cover. It would seem to be the most vulnerable thing that would let the shift shaft move in and out. If it goes deeper than that, it's an engine teardown.As far as what to tell him, what you said here is probably the best thing.

The shift shaft goes all the way through to the other side of the engine. It has a tab that fits into a notch on the vertical shaft that moves the shift plate. It sounds like one side of the notch is broken off. The entire right side of the engine will have to be disassembled to get to it. You need to repair it now because if that notched piece is broken off you have a chunk of metal floating around in the crank case. It will wreak havoc if it gets between a couple of gears. The shift shaft is located with circlips that may have popped off, causing the side to side movement These will be under the left engine cover. Because of this, the shifting issue may just be that the tab popped out of the notch and nothing is broken. However, the right covers still need to come off to inspect and re-locate the mechanism. Wish I had better news. Glad your daughter is OK.

Chris, PM me and let me know when you are running back through Missouri. I'm stationed right off the route and would be happy to provide you any assistance you need if you are in need be it a place to rest from the road for a little while or a meal and friendly conversation of any and would love to talk with you both about your travels as I am currently planning a Route 66 trip for my best friend and I and would love to ge your input on things!. Plus there is a RE dealer about 20 min from my location.

This morning, I considered shipping the bike back to Ontario and flying my daughter. Alternatively, I was going to leave the bike in Miami for ten days. Instead of canceling the trip on day five, we will be on the road tomorrow.

We are going to slow down though. We were trying to make it to a camp ground and she out ran her headlights.

Three cheers for Route 66 Custom Cycles! I took a look at their site and the owners both seem to have extensive experience with many things mechanical. I'm also glad to hear the UCE living up to the reputation of the old Bullets: easy to fix no matter where you are!

Every worhtwhile adventure requires a little adversity. I'm glad you're on the road again and that you've chosen to slow down. The number of miles you cover together is less important than the time you spend together. Take it slow